In the early 19th century, Western colonial expansion occurred at the same time as an
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
revival – the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
– throughout the English-speaking world, leading to more overseas missionary activity. The nineteenth century became known as ''the Great Century'' of modern religious
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
s.
Beginning with the English missionary
Robert Morrison in 1807, thousands of Protestant men, their wives and children, and unmarried female missionaries would live and work in China in an extended encounter between Chinese and Western culture. Most missionaries represented and were supported by
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
organizations or denominations in their home countries. They entered China at a time of growing power by the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, but were initially restricted from living and traveling in China except for the limited area of the
Thirteen Factories
The Thirteen Factories, also known as the , was a neighbourhood along the Pearl River in southwestern Guangzhou (Canton) in the Qing Empire from to 1856 around modern day Xiguan, in Guangzhou's Liwan District. These warehouses and stores were ...
in Canton, now known as
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
, and
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. In the 1842 treaty ending the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
missionaries were granted the right to live and work in five coastal cities. In 1860, the treaties ending the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
with the French and British opened up the entire country to missionary activity.
Protestant missionary activity exploded during the next few decades. From 50 missionaries in China in 1860, the number grew to 2,500 (counting wives and children) in 1900. 1,400 of the missionaries were British, 1,000 were Americans, and 100 were from continental Europe, mostly Scandinavia. Protestant missionary activity peaked in the 1920s and thereafter declined due to war and unrest in China. By 1953, all Protestant missionaries had been expelled by the communist government of China. It is difficult to determine an exact number, but historian
Kathleen Lodwick
Kathleen L. Lodwick (born 1944, died 2022) was an American educator and historian of missions to China.
Biography
Lodwick holds a Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Arizona and is a professor of history at Pennsylvania State Univers ...
estimates that some 50,000 foreigners served in mission work in China between 1809 and 1949, including both Protestants and Catholics.
Missionary activity (1807–1842)
![View of Canton factories 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/View_of_Canton_factories_2.jpg)
For
Robert Morrison and the first missionaries who followed him, life in China consisted of being confined to
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
and the
Thirteen Factories
The Thirteen Factories, also known as the , was a neighbourhood along the Pearl River in southwestern Guangzhou (Canton) in the Qing Empire from to 1856 around modern day Xiguan, in Guangzhou's Liwan District. These warehouses and stores were ...
trading ghetto in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
(then known as "Canton") with only the reluctant support of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
and confronting opposition from the Chinese government and from the
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
who had been established in China for more than a century. Morrison's early work mostly consisted of learning
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
,
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, and
Nanjing Mandarin
The Nanjing dialect, also known as Nankinese, or Nanjing Mandarin, is a dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Nanjing, China. It is part of the Jianghuai group of Chinese varieties.
Phonology
A number of features distinguish the Nanjing diale ...
; compiling a
bidirectional dictionary based on the 1714 ''
Kangxi Dictionary
The ''Kangxi Dictionary'' ( (Compendium of standard characters from the Kangxi period), published in 1716, was the most authoritative dictionary of Chinese characters from the 18th century through the early 20th. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing d ...
''; and
translating the Bible. He was forced to take work with the East India Company in order to fund these activities and remain at Guangzhou. In such conditions, his
proselytizing
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...
was limited to his employees, whom he compelled to attend Sunday services and daily meetings including prayer, Scriptural readings, and the singing of hymns. It took years before
Cai Gao was interested in baptism. Nonetheless, as Morrison's first converts—Cai Gao,
Liang Fa
Liang Fa (1789–1855), also known by other names, was the second Chinese Protestant convert and the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. He was ordained by Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in the Qing Empire. ...
,
Qu Ya'ang
Wat Ngong (1785–1867), also known by various other names, was a Chinese Protestant convert, evangelist, and writer from Guangzhou during the Qing dynasty. He was an early lithographer in Malacca, Macao, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, possibly th ...
—were literate men who also became the first Chinese trained in western printing and lithography, they began to express his message in more effective terms and to print hundreds, then thousands, of tracts.
Though Morrison and his fellows largely escaped punishment, his converts were much less lucky. Morrison's earliest efforts—even before his first convert—saw Christianity added (in 1812) to the list of banned religions under the Qing Empire's statue against "Wizards, Witches, and All Superstitions". Existing statutes against Chinese travel abroad (as to the London Missionary Society's station at
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
) and against teaching foreigners to speak or read the Chinese language provided additional avenues for persecution. Upon his first attempt to print tracts for his village kinsmen, Liang Fa was arrested, beaten on the soles of his feet with bamboo, and released only to pay a massive fine which Morrison on principle refused to help him with; instead, he used the savings he had laid aside for new houses for his wife and father. On the occasion, Morrison sanguinely noted that the conversion of China may well require many such martyrs.
In 1826, the
Daoguang Emperor
The Daoguang Emperor (; 16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanxong of Qing, born Mianning, was the seventh Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning ...
revised the law against superstitions to provide for sentencing Europeans to death for spreading Christianity among Han Chinese and Manchus ("Tartars"). Christian converts who would not repent their conversion were to be sent to
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
cities in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
and given as slaves to Muslim leaders and
bey
Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
s.
The first American missionary to China,
Elijah Coleman Bridgman
Elijah Coleman Bridgman (April22, 1801November2, 1861) was the first American Protestant Christian missionary appointed to China. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of the first few Protestant missionarie ...
arrived in Guangzhou in 1830. He established a printing press for Christian literature. The first medical missionary to China was American
Peter Parker
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August ...
who arrived in Guangzhou in 1835. He established a hospital which gained support from the Chinese, treating thousands of patients.
Following the appeal of
Karl Gützlaff
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1 ...
, who started work in China in 1831, German, Scandinavian, and American Lutheran mission societies followed with
Lutheran missions to China.
Expanding missionary influence (1842–1900)
The defeat of China by Great Britain in the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
resulted in the
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties.
In the ...
in 1842 which opened to trade, residence by foreigners, and missionary activity five Chinese port cities: Guangzhou ("Canton"),
Xiamen
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...
("Amoy"),
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
("Foochow"),
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
("Ningpo"), and Shanghai. Protestant missionary organizations established themselves in the open cities.
In the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
(1856–1860) Great Britain and France defeated China. The
Convention of Peking
The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. In China, they are regarded as amon ...
in 1860 opened up the entire country to travel by foreigners and provided for freedom of religion in China. Protestant missionary activity increased quickly after this treaty and within two decades missionaries were present in nearly every major city and province of China.
Protestant missionaries were indirectly responsible for the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
, which convulsed southern and central China from 1850 to 1864. Experiencing a severe mental disturbance after a series of failed
imperial examination
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
s, the scholar
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
had a dream which he interpreted in light of the 500-page
Liang Fa
Liang Fa (1789–1855), also known by other names, was the second Chinese Protestant convert and the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. He was ordained by Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in the Qing Empire. ...
tract given to him years before. (Liang and other Protestants targeted Guangdong's prefectural and provincial examinations as massive gatherings of literate, potentially influential young men.) Forbidden baptism by the American Baptist
Issachar Jacox Roberts Issachar Jacox Roberts (Chinese: 罗孝全 ''Luó Xiàoquán'') (1802–1871) was a Southern Baptist missionary in Qing China notable for being in direct contact with Hong Xiuquan and for denying him Christian baptism.
Early life
Roberts wa ...
, Hong grew more heterodox. Although he used the Protestant Bible and tracts as his movement's holy books and attached great importance to his version of the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
, he preached his own form of Christianity, including the belief that he was Jesus's younger brother. Roberts became an advisor to the Taipings but fell out with them in 1862, fleeing for his life and denounced them.
The 1859
Awakening in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and the work of J.
Hudson Taylor
James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was respons ...
(1832–1905) helped increase the number of missionaries in China. By 1865 when Taylor created the
China Inland Mission
OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...
(CIM) there were 30 different Protestant groups at work in China. But in the seven provinces in which Protestant missionaries were working, there were an estimated 204 million people with only 91 workers. Eleven other provinces with a population estimated at 197 million, had no missionaries. Taylor and others aroused the West put more people and resources into the effort make China a Christian country. Missionary societies and denominations on both sides of the Atlantic responded. Many new societies were formed and hundreds of missionaries were recruited, many from university students influenced by the ministry of
D. L. Moody
Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 26, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massa ...
. The most prominent of the missionary organisations were the CIM and the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...
, and the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
. Other missionaries were affiliated with
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
,
Southern Baptist
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...
s,
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
s,
American Reformed Mission,
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
s,
Episcopalians
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
, and
Wesleyans
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
.
The Protestant missionary movement distributed numerous copies of the Bible, as well as other printed works of history and science. They established and developed schools and hospitals practicing Western medicine. Traditional Chinese teachers viewed the mission schools with suspicion and it was often difficult for the Christian schools to attract pupils. The schools offered basic education to poor Chinese, both boys and girls. Before the time of the
Chinese Republic, they would have otherwise received no formal schooling.
Influential Protestant missionaries arriving in China in the nineteenth century included the Americans
William Ament,
Justus Doolittle Justus Doolittle (; Pinyin: ''Lú Gōngmíng''; Foochow Romanized: ''Lù Gŭng-mìng''; June 23, 1824, Rutland, New York - June 15, 1880, Clinton, New York) was an American Board missionary to China.
Life
Justus Doolittle was born in Rutland, New ...
,
Chester Holcombe,
Henry W. Luce
Henry Winters Luce (June 24, 1868– December 7, 1941) was an American missionary and educator in China. He was the father of the publisher Henry R. Luce.
Biography
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Luce graduated from Yale University in 1892 ...
,
William Alexander Parsons Martin
William Alexander Parsons Martin (April 10, 1827 – December 18, 1916), also known as Dīng Wěiliáng Lydia H. Liu, ''The Clash of Empires: The invention of China in modern world making'', Harvard University Press, 2004, pp. 113–139 (), was an ...
,
Calvin Wilson Mateer
Calvin Wilson Mateer (, sometimes misspelt "Matteer") (9 January 1836 – 28 September 1908) was a missionary to China with the American Presbyterian Mission. He was of Scottish-Irish descent and a native of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. ...
,
Lottie Moon
Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon (December 12, 1840 – December 24, 1912) was a Southern Baptist missionary to China with the Foreign Mission Board who spent nearly 40 years (1873–1912) living and working in China. As a teacher and evangelist ...
,
John Livingstone Nevius
John Livingston Nevius (4 March 1829 – 19 October 1893) was an American Protestant missionary in Chinafor forty years, appointed been appointed by the American Presbyterian Mission; his ideas on mission organization were also very important ...
, and
Arthur Henderson Smith. Prominent British missionaries included
James Legge
James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator
who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...
,
Walter Henry Medhurst
Walter Henry Medhurst (29 April 179624 January 1857), was an English Congregationalist missionary to China, born in London and educated at St Paul's School. He was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese-language editions.
Earl ...
,
Fred Charles Roberts, and
William Edward Soothill
William Edward Soothill, (1861 – 1935) was a Methodist missionary to China who later became Professor of Chinese at University College, Oxford, and a leading British sinologist.
Life
Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in January 1861, Soothill m ...
. Prominent among the China missionaries were idealistic and well-educated young men and women who were members of the
Oberlin Band, the
Cambridge Seven
The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were:
* Charles Thomas Studd
* Montagu H ...
, and the
Student Volunteer Movement
The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was an organization founded in 1886 that sought to recruit college and university students in the United States for missionary service abroad. It also sought to publicize and encourage the mission ...
.
The slogan of the missionary movement was "The evangelization of the world." Later, to give urgency, the slogan was expanded to be: "The evangelization of the world in this generation."
China, resistant to missionary efforts and the most populous country in the world, received a large share of the attention of the burgeoning worldwide missionary movement.
Missionary life in China
The China missionary lived an arduous life, especially in the 19th century. Attrition was high because of health problems and mental breakdowns. Learning the Chinese language was a long-term and difficult endeavor. A majority of missionaries proved to be ineffective. "Of the first fifty-three missionaries sent out....by the China Inland Mission, only twenty-two adults remained in the mission, and of these only four or five men and three or four women were much good. It took about five years of language study and work for a missionary to function in China—and many fledgling missionaries resigned or died before completing their tutelage. Overall, in the 19th century, although missionaries arriving in China were usually young and healthy, about one-half of missionaries resigned or died after less than 10 years of service. Health reasons were the principal reason for resignation. Mortality among children born to missionary couples was estimated to be three times that of infant mortality in rural England. In the late 19th century, health and living conditions began to improve as missionary organizations became more knowledgeable and the number of missionary doctors increased.
A blow to the morale of China missionaries was their low rate of success in the achievement of their primary objective: the conversion of Chinese to Christianity. Robert Morrison in 27 years of missionary effort could only report 25 converts and other early missionaries had similar experiences. The pace of conversions picked up with time but by 1900 there were still only 100,000 Chinese Protestant Christians after nearly a century of endeavor by thousands of missionaries. Moreover, critics charged that many of the Chinese were "
Rice Christian
The expression rice Christian is a term used to describe someone who has formally converted to Christianity for material benefits rather than for religious reasons. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "a convert to Christianity who accepts ba ...
s", accepting Christianity only for the material benefits of becoming a Christian. Missionaries turned towards establishing hospitals and schools as more effective in attracting Chinese to Christianity than proselytizing.
In Chinese eyes, Christianity was associated with opium, the Taiping Rebellion with its millions of dead,
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
, and the special privileges granted foreigners and Christian converts under the
Unequal Treaties
Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
. A Chinese nobleman said of the European and American presence in China: "Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome."
Xinjiang was proselytized by Swedish missionaries to preach and convert
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
(Turki Muslims).
Christian missionaries such as British missionary
George W. Hunter,
Johannes Avetaranian, and Swedish missionaries like
Magnus Bäcklund,
Nils Fredrik Höijer,
Father Hendricks,
Josef Mässrur,
Anna Mässrur
Anna Nyström-Mässrur (9 December 1849-December 1913) was a Swedish missionary. She served in the Caucasus and in Persia, and in 1894 moved to the Xinjiang region of China.
She married Persian-born doctor Josef Mässrur in Kashgar in May 1895, ...
,
Albert Andersson,
Gustaf Ahlbert,
Stina Mårtensson,
John Törnquist,
Gösta Raquette,
Oskar Hermannson and the Uyghur converted Christian
Nur Luke Dr. Nur Luke was a Uyghur Bible translator from Hotan who converted to Christianity. He fled Xinjiang in the 1930s and together with Gustaf Ahlbert and Oskar Hermannson finished the translation of the Uyghur Bible in India. This was published by th ...
studied the Uyghur language and wrote works on it. A Turkish convert to Christianity,
Johannes Avetaranian went to China to spread Christianity to the Uyghurs.
Yaqup Istipan,
Wu'erkaixi
Örkesh Dölet ( ug, ئۆركەش دۆلەت, zh, 吾尔开希·多莱特; commonly known by his pinyin name Wu'erkaixi) is a political commentator known for his leading role during the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
Of Uyghur heritage, he was bo ...
, and
Alimujiang Yimiti
Alimjan Yimit, (also written as Alimujiang Yimiti) is a Uyghur house church clergyman.
History
The Kashi Municipal Bureau for Ethnic Religious Affairs ordered that Alimujiang's license to operate his business, Xinjiang Jiaerhao Foodstuff Company, ...
are other Uyghurs who converted to Christianity.
The Bible was translated into the Kashgari dialect of Turki (Uyghur).
An anti-Christian mobs was broke out among the Muslims in Kashgar directed against the Swedish missionaries in 1923.
In the name of Islam, the Uyghur leader
Abdullah Bughra
Abdullah Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) ئابدۇللا بۇغرا, عبد الله بغرا; zh, c=阿不都拉·布格拉, p=Ābùdūlā·Bùgélā; died 1934) was a Uighur Emir of the First East Turkestan Republic. He was the younger brother of ...
violently physically assaulted the Yarkand-based Swedish missionaries and would have executed them except they were only banished due to the British Aqsaqal's intercession in their favor.
George W. Hunter noted that while Tungan Muslims (
Chinese Muslims
Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. Muslims are a minority group in China, representing 1.6-2 percent of the total population (21,667,000- 28,210,795) according to various estimates. Though Hui Muslims are the most numero ...
) would almost never prostitute their daughters, Turki Muslims (
Uyghurs) would
prostitute their daughters, which was why Turki prostitutes were common around the country.
Swedish Christian missionary J. E. Lundahl wrote in 1917 that the local Muslim women in Xinjiang
married Chinese men because of a lack of Chinese women, the relatives of the woman and other Muslims reviled the women for their marriages.
—A number of British and German friends are subscribing to support a new mission with headquarters in Kashgar and Yarkand, two cities of Chinese Turkestan, and the work is to be carried on not among the Chinese, but among the Mohammedans, who are in a large majority in that district. The new mission is interesting, in that it is an attack upon China from the west. Two German missionaries, accompanied by a doctor and a native Christian, will in Kashgar next spring and begin work. It may be added that the British and Foreign Bible Society is at present printing the four Gospels in the dialect of Chinese Turkestan, and that in all probability they will be ready before the new mission is settled at Kashgar.
Women missionaries
Missionary societies initially sent out only married couples and a few single men as missionaries. Wives served as unpaid "assistant missionaries." The opinion of male-dominated missionary societies was that unmarried women should not live unprotected and alone in a foreign country and that the spiritual work of missionaries could only be undertaken by ordained men. Over time, as it became clear that Christian schools were necessary to attract and educate potential Christians and leaders and change foreign cultures that were unreceptive to the Christian message as proclaimed by male missionary preachers. The first unmarried female missionary in China was
Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey (, 24 June 1797 – 1868) was the first Christian missionary woman (married or single) to serve in China proper (excluding Macau & Hong Kong, where Henrietta Shuck had been working earlier). She founded a school for girls in N ...
, an eccentric British woman, who opened a school for girls in Ningpo in 1844.
![Susie Rijnhart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Susie_Rijnhart.jpg)
In the 1860s women's missionary organizations, especially the
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (WFMS of the MEC) was one of three Methodist organizations in the United States focused on women's foreign missionary services, the others being the WFMS of the Free Methodist C ...
of the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
in the United States and women began to become missionaries around the world in sizable numbers. Women missionaries, married and unmarried, would soon outnumber men. By 1919, American Methodist and Congregationalist (ABCFM) women missionaries numbered more than twice the number of male missionaries in China. The rise of female missionaries to prominence was not without friction with men. An 1888 Baptist conference affirmed that "women's work in the foreign field must be careful to recognize the headship of men." and "the head of woman is the man."
In China, due to cultural norms, male missionaries could not interact with Chinese women and thus the evangelical work among women was the responsibility of missionary women. Female missionary doctors treated Chinese women and female missionaries managed girl's schools. Women missionaries were customarily paid less than men. The Methodists in the 1850s paid a male missionary to China a salary of 500 dollars per year, but the first two unmarried female missionaries the Methodists sent to China,
Beulah and Sarah Woolston, received an annual salary of only 300 dollars each. The early unmarried female missionaries were required to live with missionary families. Later, unmarried women missionaries often shared a home. Despite their preponderance in numbers, female missionaries, married and unmarried, were often excluded from participation in policy decisions within missionary organizations which were usually dominated by men. Only in the 1920s, for example, were women given a full voice and vote in the missionary meetings in China of the American Board.
Women missionaries had a "civilizing mission" of introducing Protestant middle-class culture to China, educating Chinese women and "elevating their gender." They played a major role in campaigns against opium and foot binding. The widespread view in Europe and America in the late 19th century was that "Civilization cannot exist apart from Christianity."
Nineteenth-century women missionaries to China included two early explorers of Tibet, Englishwoman
Annie Royle Taylor
Hannah Royle Taylor (7 October 1855 – 9 September 1922), known as Annie Royle Taylor, was an English explorer and Evangelical missionary to China. She was the first Western woman known to have visited Tibet. She attempted to reach the "forb ...
and Canadian
Susanna Carson Rijnhart, both of whom undertook much more dangerous expeditions than famous explorers of the day such as
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...
and
Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...
.
Boxer Rebellion (1900)
![Boxer1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Boxer1900.jpg)
The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 was the worst disaster in missionary history. One hundred and eighty-nine Protestant missionaries, including 53 children, (and many Roman Catholic priests and nuns) were killed by Boxers and Chinese soldiers in northern China. An estimated 2,000 Protestant Chinese Christians also were killed. The China Inland Mission lost more members than any other organization: 58 adults and 20 children were killed.
The Chinese had recognized the rights of the missionaries only because of the superiority of Western naval and military power. Many Chinese associated the missionaries with Western imperialism and resented them, especially the educated classes who feared changes that might threaten their position. As the foreign and missionary presence in China grew, so also did Chinese resentment of foreigners. The Boxers were a peasant mass movement, stimulated by drought and floods in the north China countryside. The Qing dynasty took the side of the Boxers, besieged the foreigners in Beijing in the
Siege of the International Legations
The siege of the International Legations occurred in 1900 in Peking, the capital of the Qing Empire, during the Boxer Rebellion. Menaced by the Boxers; an anti-Christian anti-foreign peasant movement, 900 soldiers, sailors, marines, and civilian ...
and was invaded by a coalition of foreign armies, the
Eight Nation Alliance
The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, then besieged by the popular Boxer militia, who were determined to remove f ...
. The greatest loss of missionary lives was in
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
where, among others, all 15 members of the
Oberlin Band were executed.
![Troops of the Eight nations alliance 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Troops_of_the_Eight_nations_alliance_1900.jpg)
The Eight Nation Alliance imposed a heavy indemnity on China which Hudson Taylor of the CIM refused to accept. He wanted to demonstrate "the meekness and gentleness of Christ" to the Chinese. In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, the foreign residents in northern China, especially the missionaries, came under attack in their home countries for looting. Missionaries, such as
William Ament, utilized United States Army troops to confiscate goods and property from Boxers and alleged Boxers to compensate Christian families for their losses. Critics of such actions included the writer
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
, who called Ament and his colleagues the "reverend bandits of the American Board."
The Boxer Rebellion had a profound impact on both China and the West. The Qing government attempted reform and missionaries found the Chinese more receptive to both their evangelical and their "civilizing" message, but the West lost the certainty of its conviction that it had the right to impose its culture and religion on China. The
China Centenary Missionary Conference
The China Centenary Missionary Conference, held in 1907 in Shanghai, China commemorated 100 years of Protestant missionary work in China and debated future courses of action. Among other actions, the conference approved a resolution endorsing the ...
in 1907 affirmed that education and health were of equal importance with evangelism although traditionalists complained that "education and health are no substitute for preaching." Missionary activities after the Boxer Rebellion became increasingly secular.
Abolition of the opium trade
Opium was Britain's most profitable export to China during the 19th century. Early missionaries, such as Bridgman, criticized the opium trade—but missionaries were equivocal. The treaties ending the two opium wars opened up China to missionary endeavor and some missionaries believed that the opium wars might be part of God's plan to make China a Christian nation. Later, as the social message of the missionaries began to compete with evangelism as a priority, the missionaries became more forthright in opposing the opium trade.
In the 1890s, the effects of opium use were still largely undocumented by science. Protestant missionaries in China compiled data to demonstrate the harm of the drug, which they had observed. They were outraged that the British
Royal Commission on Opium
The Royal Commission on Opium was a British Royal Commission that investigated the opium trade in British India in 1893–1895, particularly focusing on the medical impacts of opium consumption within India. Set up by Prime Minister William G ...
visited India but not China. They created the
Anti-Opium League in China among their colleagues in every mission station, for which the American missionary
Hampden Coit DuBose served as the first president. This organization was instrumental in gathering data from Western-trained medical doctors in China, most of whom were missionaries. They published their data and conclusions in 1899 as ''Opinions of Over 100 Physicians on the Use of Opium in China''. The survey included doctors in private practices, particularly in Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as Chinese who had been trained in medical schools in Western countries.
[.]
In Britain, the home director of the China Inland Mission,
Benjamin Broomhall
Benjamin Broomhall (15 August 1829 – 29 May 1911) was a British advocate of foreign missions, administrator of the China Inland Mission, and author. Broomhall served as the General Secretary of the China Inland Mission (CIM), (from 1878 to 1895 ...
, was an active opponent of the opium trade; he wrote two books to promote banning opium smoking: ''Truth about Opium Smoking'' and ''The Chinese Opium Smoker''. In 1888 Broomhall formed and became secretary of the "Christian Union for the Severance of the British Empire with the Opium Traffic" and editor of its periodical, ''National Righteousness''. He lobbied the British Parliament to stop the opium trade. He and
James Laidlaw Maxwell
James Laidlaw Maxwell Senior (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Má Ngá-kok''; ; born 18 March 1836 in Scotland – March 1921) was the first Presbyterian missionary to Formosa ( Qing-era Taiwan). He served with the English Presbyterian Mission.
Maxwell ...
appealed to the London Missionary Conference of 1888 and the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 to condemn the trade. As he lay dying, the government signed an agreement to end the opium trade within two years.
Footbinding
The rise to prominence of women missionaries also gave rise to missionary opposition to Chinese
foot binding
Foot binding, or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were kno ...
. Although male missionaries often considered footbinding as a matter of conscience rather than a sin against God, female missionaries vehemently opposed the custom. In the 1860s, American Presbyterian Helen Nevius and others combated foot binding by matchmaking, finding Christian husbands for young women with unbound feet. In 1872 in Beijing, American Methodist
Mary Porter, who became the wife of Boxer Rebellion hero
Frank Gamewell, banned girls with bound feet in her school and in 1874 an anti-footbinding organization was founded in Xiamen. By 1908 the majority of the Chinese elite had spoken out against footbinding and in 1911 the practice was prohibited, although the prohibition was not completely effective in remote areas.
Physical education, sport, and "muscular Christianity"
Missionaries affected Chinese body culture not only through discouraging footbinding. Since the late 19th century, the YMCA in particular played a very prominent role in spreading scientific approaches to physical education and amateur sports as a form of Protestant citizenship training ("muscular Christianity") in China and other Asian countries. Among the results was the increasing integration of Western physical education practices into school curricular, the hosting of National Games since 1910, and the promotion of China's participation in and hosting of the
Far Eastern Championship Games
The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games.
History
In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...
since 1913. Moreover, the International YMCA College (now Springfield College) became a central institution for training a first generation of Chinese physical educators in physical education and muscular Christian ideals.
Expansion: 1901 to 1920s
The Boxer Uprising discredited xenophobia and opened the way for a period of growth in Protestant missionaries and missionary institutions, numbers of Christians, and acceptance by non-Christians. The period from 1900 until 1925 has been called the "Golden Age" for Christian missionaries in China. By 1919, there were 3,300 missionaries in China (not counting their children) divided about equally among married men, married women, and unmarried women and reached a high of 8,000, including children, in 1925. In 1926, civil war, political unrest, competition from ideologies such as
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
, and the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
saw the missionary enterprise begin to decline.
![University Medical School in Canton, first class](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/University_Medical_School_in_Canton%2C_first_class.jpg)
Example of missionary activity during this period include the following. Due to social custom, the women of China were reluctant to be treated by male doctors of Western medicine. This resulted in a demand for female doctors of Western
medicine in China
In China, the practice of medicine is a mixture of government, charitable, and private institutions, while many people rely on traditional medicine. Until reforms in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, physicians were quasi-govern ...
. Thus, female medical missionary Dr. Mary H. Fulton (1854–1927) was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and ...
to found the first
medical college for women in China. Known as the
Hackett Medical College for Women
Lingnan University () in Guangzhou (Canton), China, was a private university established by a group of American missionaries in 1888. At its founding it was named Canton Christian College ().
When the Communist government reorganized China's high ...
(夏葛女子醫學院), it was located in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
, China, and was enabled by a large donation from Mr. Edward A.K. Hackett (1851–1916) of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, USA. The college was dedicated in 1902 and offered a four-year curriculum. By 1915, there were more than 60 students, mostly in residence. Most students became Christians, due to the influence of Dr. Fulton. The college was officially recognized, with its diplomas marked with the official stamp of the Guangdong provincial government. The college was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and modern medicine and the elevation of Chinese women's social status. The David Gregg Hospital for Women and Children (also known as Yuji Hospital 柔濟醫院) was affiliated with this college. The graduates of this college included CHAU Lee-sun (周理信, 1890–1979) and WONG Yuen-hing (黃婉卿), both of whom graduated in the late 1910s
and then practiced medicine in the hospitals in Guangdong province.
Dr. Fred P. Manget (1880–1979) went from Georgia, USA, to Shanghai as a medical missionary in 1909. In 1912, he rented a building in Houzhou to establish a hospital that could hold about 30 beds. At the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Dr. Manget returned to Shanghai and discussed with the representative of the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
in China about the Foundation's intention to spread the practice of Western medicine in China. After much negotiation, the Chinese Government agreed to provide 9 acres of land, while the Foundation provided US$30,000 to build a hospital in Huzhou. The Rockefeller Foundation also funded a hospital in Suzhou, China, after a request from missionary
John Abner Snell
John Abner Snell (28 October 1880 – 2 March 1936), also known as Soo E. Sang, was a missionary surgeon and hospital administrator in Suzhou (Suzhou, Soochow), China. Snell was a devout Christian, and as early as age 14 he stated: "I aim to devot ...
. The remaining needed funds were provided by the Southern Methodist Church and the Northern Baptist Church in the USA. Thus, the small hospital with a small rented building and one doctor was transformed into Huzhou General Hospital (湖州醫院), which had 9 acres of land, over 100 nurses and 100 other personnel, in addition to the most modern medical facilities in China. The facilities included a chemistry laboratory, an X-ray facility and a Nursing School. Later, Japanese troops occupied Huzhou General Hospital. The family members of Dr. Manget were able to leave China for the USA. However, Dr. Manget was not willing to leave China. When he saw how the Japanese troops treated the Chinese people, he pointed out their wrongdoing. As a consequence, he was arrested by the Japanese troops, who accused him of espionage. Later, the Japanese troops released him. Under the strict control of the Japanese troops, Huzhou General Hospital reopened and Dr. Manget worked there for three and a half years.
Christian missions were especially successful among ethnic groups on the frontiers. For them Christianity offered not only spiritual attraction but resistance to Han Chinese. The British missionary
Samuel Pollard, for instance, devised the
Pollard Script
The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao (Chinese: 柏格理苗文 Bó Gélǐ Miao-wen) or Miao, is an abugida loosely based on the Latin alphabet and invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. Pollard invented the script for use with A ...
for writing the
Miao Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
language in order to translate the Bible. A musician and an engineer named
James O. Fraser
James Outram Fraser (Chinese: 富能仁; 1886–1938) was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. He pioneered work among the Lisu people, of Southwestern China, in the early part of the 20th century. ...
was the first to work with the
Lisu people
The Lisu people (Lisu: ; my, လီဆူလူမျိုး, ; ; th, ลีสู่) are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group who inhabit mountainous regions of Myanmar (Burma), southwest China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh ...
of
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
in southwest China. This resulted in phenomenal church growth among the various ethnic groups in the area that endured into the 21st century.
A 2022 study found that the Protestant missionary activities led to a nationalist backlash in China, as local elites saw the missionary activities as a political threat and organized anti-foreign protests.
Setbacks, questioning, and war (1919–1945)
By the 1920s, the mainline Protestant churches realized that conversions were not happening, despite all the schools and hospitals. Furthermore, they had come to appreciate the ethical and cultural values of a different civilization, and began to doubt their own superiority. The mainline Protestant denomination missionary work declined rapidly. In their place Chinese Christians increasingly took control. Furthermore, there was a rapid growth of fundamentalist, Pentecostal and Jehovah Witness missionaries who remained committed to the conversion process.
![Beijing students protesting the Treaty of Versailles (May 4, 1919)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Beijing_students_protesting_the_Treaty_of_Versailles_%28May_4%2C_1919%29.jpg)
The
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...
criticized all traditional beliefs and religions. The 1922 study ''
The Christian Occupation of China
''The Christian Occupation of China: A General Survey of the Numerical Strength and Geographical Distribution of the Christian Forces in China, Made by the Special Committee on Survey and Occupation, China Continuation Committee, 1918-1921'' is a ...
'' presented view of the liberal wing of the missionary establishment that control should be turned over to Chinese, but the unfortunate title made matters worse. The
Anti-Christian campaigns of the early 1920s, and the
Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
of 1925–27 led to the unification of China under the
Nationalist Party. Liberal missionaries welcomed the opportunity to participate in the development of the Chinese nation, but the mission enterprise was attacked. As anti-imperialism grew, Christian schools were subjected to government regulation which required that all organizations have Chinese leadership. Many missionaries left China and support in home countries waned, partly because of economic problems during the Great Depression.
Criticism and calls for reform came from within the missionary community. Partly as a result of the
Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy missions came under questioning. Novelist and missionary
Pearl S. Buck
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, Pulitze ...
for example, returned to the United States in 1932 to ask "Is There a Case for Foreign Missionaries?." Buck's twin biographies of her parents, ''
Fighting Angel
''Fighting Angel: Portrait of a Soul'' (1936) is a memoir, sometimes called a "creative non-fiction novel," written by Pearl S. Buck about her father, Absalom Sydenstricker (1852–1931) as a companion to her memoir of her mother, ''The Exile''. ...
'' and ''
The Exile
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'', dramatized the charges that foreign missions were a form of imperialism. Another skeptical note was sounded by the massive study commissioned by
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.
He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...
entitled "Rethinking Missions" which cast doubt on a wide range of missionary activities.
[Bays, http://www.globalchinacenter.org/analysis/christianity-in-china/christianity-in-china-19001950-the-history-that-shaped-the-present.php, accessed 29 January 2013]
In 1934
John and Betty Stam were murdered by Communist soldiers. Their biography ''The Triumph of John and Betty Stam'' (Chicago: Moody Press, 1982) was written by Mrs. Howard Taylor, a fellow missionary with the
China Inland Mission
OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...
. It inspired a new generation of missionaries to seek to work in China despite civil war and the anti-missionary views of many Chinese.
When the Japanese invaded China in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1937, the China Inland Mission and many other missionary organizations moved their headquarters up the
Yangzi
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
River to
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
. After Japan went to war with the Western countries in 1941, the Japanese interned Western civilians, including about 1,000 Protestant missionaries, in camps until the end the war in 1945, mostly at the
Weihsien Compound
The Weixian Internment Camp (), better known historically as the Weihsien Internment Camp, was a List of Japanese-run internment camps during World War II, Japanese-run internment camp called a ”Civilian Assembly Center” in the former (), loc ...
in Shandong and the
Stanley Internment Camp
Stanley Internment Camp () was a civilian internment camp in Hong Kong during the Second World War. Located in Stanley, on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, it was used by the Japanese imperial forces to hold non- Chinese enemy nationals a ...
in Hong Kong. The entire staff and student body of the
Chefoo School for missionary children, grades one to twelve, numbering 239 children and adults, were among those interned at Weihsien.
Eric Liddell
Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended boarding school near London, spending time when p ...
, the 1924 Olympic gold medalist and afterwards a missionary, was also interned at Weihsien and died of a cerebral hemorrhage during the war.
Final exodus 1945–1953
After the victory of the
Chinese Communist
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
armies in 1949 and suppression of religion, the members of all missionary societies departed or were expelled from China. Missionaries Arthur Matthews (an American) and Dr. Rupert Clark (British) were placed under house arrest but were finally allowed to leave in 1953. Their wives, Wilda Matthews and Jeannette Clark, had been forced to leave with other missionaries before this. The China Inland Mission was the last Protestant missionary society to leave China.
In 1900 there were an estimated 100,000 Protestants in China. By 1950 the number had increased to 700,000, but still far less than one percent of the total Chinese population. Helped by strong leaders such as
John Sung
John Sung Shang Chieh ( zh, t=宋尙節, 27 September 1901 – 18 August 1944) also John Sung, was a renowned Chinese Christian evangelist who played an instrumental role in the revival movement among the Chinese in Mainland China, Taiwan, and ...
,
Wang Ming-Dao, and
Andrew Gih
Andrew Gih or Ji Zhiwen ( zh, t=計志文, s=计志文, first=t, w=Chi Chih-wên, p=Jì Zhìwén; January 10, 1901 – February 13, 1985) was a Chinese Protestant evangelist who cofounded the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band in 1931 and foun ...
, the Chinese Protestant Christian churches became an indigenous movement.
Impact on the United States
American missionaries had an audience at home who listen closely to their first-hand accounts. Around 1900 there were on average about 300 China missionaries on furlough back home, and they presented their case to church groups perhaps 30,000 times a year, reaching several million churchgoers. They were suffused with optimism that sooner or later China would be converted to Christianity.
Novelist
Pearl S. Buck
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, Pulitze ...
(1892–1973) was raised in a bilingual environment in China by her missionary parents. China was the setting for many of her best-selling novels and stories, which explored the hardships, and the depth of humanity of the people she loved, and considered fully equal. After college in the United States, she returned to China as a Presbyterian missionary 1914 to 1932. She taught English at the college level. ''
The Good Earth
''The Good Earth'' is a historical fiction novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 that dramatizes family life in a Chinese village in the early 20th century. It is the first book in her ''House of Earth'' trilogy, continued in ''Sons'' (1932) ...
'' (1931) was her best-selling novel, and a popular movie. Along with numerous other books and articles she reached a large middle-class American audience with a highly sympathetic view of China. The Nobel Prize committee for literature hailed her, "for the notable works which pave the way to a human sympathy passing over widely separated racial boundaries and for the studies of human ideals which are a great and living art of portraiture."
No one had more influence on American political thinking about foreign policy than
Henry R. Luce (1898-1967), founder and publisher of ''TIME'', ''LIFE'' and ''FORTUNE'' magazines from the 1920s to his death. He was born to missionary parents in China, and educated there until age 15. His Chinese experience made a deep impression, and his publications always gave large scale favorable attention to China. He gave some very strong support to Chiang Kai-shek in his battles against Mao Zedong.
The politically most influential returning missionary was
Walter Judd (1898-1994) Who served 10 years is a medical missionary in Fujian 1925-1931 and 1934–1938. On his return to Minnesota, he became an articulate spokesman denouncing the Japanese aggression against China, explaining it in terms of Japan's scarcity of raw materials and markets, population pressure, and the disorder and civil war in China. According to biographer Yanli Gao:
:Judd was both a Wilsonian moralist and a Jacksonian protectionist, whose efforts were driven by a general Christian understanding of human beings, as well as a missionary complex. As he appealed simultaneously to American national interests and a popular Christian moral conscience, the Judd experience demonstrated that determined courageous advocacy by missionaries did in fact help to shape an American foreign policy needing to be awakened from its isolationist slumbers." Judd served two decades in Congress 1943-1962 as a Republican, where he was a highly influential spokesman on Asian affairs generally and especially China. He was a liberal missionary but a conservative anti-Communist congressman who defined the extent of American support for the
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
regime.
[Yanli Gao, "Judd's China: a missionary congressman and US–China policy." Journal of Modern Chinese History 2.2 (2008): 197-219.]
See also
*
East Asia–United States relations#Missionaries in China
*
Protestantism in China
Protestant Christianity ( zh, t=基督敎新敎, p=Jīdūjiào xīnjiào, l=New teachings of Christianity, in comparison to earlier Roman Catholicism) entered China in the early 19th century, taking root in a significant way during the Qing dyna ...
*
Che Kam Kong Che Kam Kong (died in 1871), also known as Chea Kunkong, was a Chinese Protestant Christian who was killed because of his beliefs in China. He is regarded by some to be one of the first martyrs among Protestants in China. Che Kam Kong visited Britis ...
*
Christianity in China
Christianity in China has been present since at least the 3rd century, and it has gained a significant amount of influence during the last 200 years.
While Christianity may have existed in China before the 3rd century, evidence of its exist ...
*
Chinese house church
In China, house churches or family churches (), are Protestant assemblies in the People's Republic of China that operate independently from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC). They represent ...
*
Chinese Union Version
The ''Chinese Union Version'' (CUV) () is the predominant translation of the Bible into Chinese used by Chinese Protestants, first published in 1919. The text is now available online.
The CUV is currently available in both traditional and simpl ...
of the Bible
*
Chinese New Hymnal
''The Chinese New Hymnal'' () was published in the early 1980s and is the main hymnal used by the Protestant churches registered through the TSPM in present-day China.
History
''The Chinese New Hymnal'' was begun being edited in the 1980 ...
*
China Christian Council
The China Christian Council (CCC; ) was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. Ting as its president. It works to provide theological education and the publica ...
*
Bible translations into Chinese
Bible translations into Chinese include translations of the whole or parts of the Bible into any of the levels and varieties of the Chinese language. The first translations may have been made as early as the 7th century AD, but the first printed tr ...
*
Timeline of Christian missions
This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most significant missionary outreach events.
Apostolic Age
Earliest dates must all be considered approximate
* 33 – Great Commissi ...
References
Bibliography
*
* .
*
* . Detailed survey, with quotes from many documents but not so much analysis.
*
*
Further reading
* Carpenter, Joel, and Wilbert R. Shenk, eds. ''Earthen vessels: American evangelicals and foreign missions, 1880-1980'' (2012).
* . Balanced survey; the Bibliographical essay (pp. 611–24) covers monographs and articles in English, Japanese, and Chinese.
*
*
* Hollinger, David A. ''Protestants abroad: how missionaries tried to change the world but changed America'' (2017).
*
* . Lucid explanation of the social philosophy and theology of missions.
* .
* .
* . Research essays.
*
* . 299 pp.
*
*
* .
* .
* Zhang, Xiantao. ''The origins of the modern Chinese press: the influence of the Protestant missionary press in late Qing China'' (Routledge, 2007).
*
External links
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity"Missionary, Sinology, and Literary Periodicals, 1817–1949" from GALE*
ttp://libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/was40/outline?searchword='%25'&channelid=57203&sortfield=%2BPrimary_Title Documentation of Christianity in Hong Kong Database (香港基督教文獻數據庫) Special Collections & Archives, Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
Christianity Rare Books Database 基督教古籍數據庫 Special Collections & Archives, Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
Christianity in Contemporary China Clippings 當代中國基督教發展剪報數據庫 Special Collections & Archives, Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
Special Collections & Archives, Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
Library Holdings on China Inland Mission Special Collections & Archives, Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Protestant Missions in China 1807-1953
19th century in China
20th century in China
China–United Kingdom relations
China–United States relations
Foreign relations of the Qing dynasty
Protestant missionaries in China
Christian missions in China